


Welcome Home

by Sharcade



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Coping, Crying, Gen, Heavy Angst, One Shot, Short, Short One Shot, Sibling Bonding, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 09:16:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18848068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharcade/pseuds/Sharcade
Summary: Louie works through some feelings regarding the miraculous return of Della Duck.All on his own.





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be my one and only DuckTales fic, but I really wanted to pump this one out quick while it was still relevant. Enjoy!

Della Duck was on Earth.

This hadn't been true in a  _long_ time. Louie had heard the stories - all the boys had. After Scrooge had promised to be honest with them, things had changed. Scrooge had been open to talking about their mother, telling them what an incredible person she was, telling them of her incredible feats. Louie had watched the way Dewey's eyes shone when he was told of Della exploring boldly where no duck had explored before. He had seen the way Huey beamed when he heard of her resourceful solutions. Despite himself, he had glowed with pride when Scrooge had told him of his own similarities to Della. He wanted to see her. He was  _excited_ to see her.

And then, she was standing in front of him.

Louie felt a lump in his throat that he didn't dare to swallow. She was  _right there._ His brothers had been eager to run into her arms, but Louie hadn't. Louie flinched when they called his name - not even truly his name, in fact, a name that Della had  _wanted_ him to have - and couldn't find the will to move his feet. This was his mother. This was what they had been looking for. Now what?

When he spoke up, he regretted it. Dewey had been the first to bite back at him - didn't he want this? Wasn't he happy? Why couldn't he just accept that Della was home, why did he have to distrust her, why did he have to question this incredible thing that they had been given? Louie had fumbled over his answer as if he had never spoken in his life. His words had come out unorganized and jumbled, tripping over each other as they flew out of his mouth like curses. It was his fault. It wasn't Della, it was him, that was it, he was out of his element, he didn't know how to cope with this, he didn't know how to have a mother. Della wasn't to blame. Louie was just being stupid.

As he lied in bed, staring up at the bunk above his own, that thought pounded in his head. He was being stupid. So, so stupid. This was his fault. He was to blame for how he felt. Dewey was upset with him because he couldn't figure out how to love his own mother, Dewey was upset with him because he was an  _idiot._

Louie sniffled.

"Is somebody awake?"

"No," Louie whispered hastily, silently cursing himself for even responding. "I mean, yes, I mean - Go back to sleep, Huey."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm  _fine._ "

"Is it about Mom?"

Louie's breath seemed to catch in his throat, his face burning as his body threatened to put forth another wave of tears.

"I said I'm fine."

He slung an arm over his eyes, his sleeve serving to soak up any tears that may have made their way out. The sound of webbed feet pattering against the bunk bed ladder jolted him slightly, and before he could protest, there was a weight on his bed.

"...Do you wanna talk about it?"

He felt his shoulders tremble. There was suddenly too many thoughts in his head, too many words to even  _say_ , too much of  _everything_ to even  _process._

So instead, he cried.

Huey didn't speak for a moment, simply scooting closer to his brother as the younger triplet sniffled and held back quiet sobs against his sleeve. Louie had always been the crier. Dewey was emotionally charged, but Louie was sensitive, Louie was scared, Louie was crying to himself in the middle of the night while Huey gently stroked the feathers away from his face. What was he even crying about?

"What's going on?"

"Go back to sleep, Dewey."

"Wait, seriously, what's going on? Is Louie okay?"

"I-I'm fine!" Louie snapped, his voice not too high above a whisper despite feeling suddenly charged.

Dewey's head poked down from the bunk above, his eyes scanning over the scene with a mix of scepticism and concern.

"Is this something about Mom?"

"Dewey, really," Huey interjected. "I think you should just go back to sleep."

"Why can't you just accept that she wants to be part of our lives?" Dewey returned exasperatedly, furrowing his brow into a glare. "She worked  _so hard_ to get back to us and you won't even give her a chance. She did all that for  _us_ , Louie, she fought off moon monsters and aliens and rebuilt a whole rocket for  _us._ "

" _Dewey._ "

"She's the coolest Mom in the world, she made us crazy amazing desserts, she wants to take us on  _adventures_ , she's going to change our lives, Louie!"

"Well maybe I don't want my life changed, huh?!" Louie snapped, suddenly bolting upright to return his brother's glare. "Ever thought of that?! Maybe I was just fine before, maybe I would have been just fine without her!"

"She's your Mom!"

"She's  _all_ of our Moms," Huey interjected, turning his sudden attention to Dewey. "We  _all_ missed her, we  _all_ wanted her back, you know that."

"Yeah, I do," Dewey muttered. "So why is Louie suddenly changing his mind?"

"I just - you're not  _listening_ to me," Louie insisted desperately. "Of course I want her back, I-I'm  _glad_ that she's here, I just..."

"Just  _what?_ "

"I-I just don't know what I'm  _doing_."

The room fell silent and stiff for a moment, Dewey's gaze scanning his brothers for a moment before the middle child dropped down onto the ground below, dusting himself off as his feet hit the ground. Louie's quiet sniffles were the only thing penetrating the tense quiet.

"I d-don't know what I'm  _doing_ , I don't know what I'm  _s-supposed_ to do,  _I-I don't know how to have a Mom._ "

Dewey opened his mouth to speak, pausing as words seemed to fail him. He furrowed his brow, looking out the window in thought as the moon shed light against the hardwood. It was silent once again.

"None of us know what we're doing," Huey mumbled gently, placing a hand on Louie's arm. "I promise you, none of us know  _anything_ about what we're supposed to be doing now."

"We're supposed to be being her  _sons_ , we're supposed to - w-we're...we're..."

Huey's eyes moved up to meet Dewey's sympathetically.

"Wh-What are we supposed to do?"

Huey took his brother's hand, pulling him back to the bed and scooting aside to give him room to sit. Dewey still seemed to be mewled up in his own thoughts, staring in confusion at the ground as he tried to make sense of his new situation.

"We're going to figure it out. I promise. We just need to do it together."

"Together," Louie mumbled, staring up once again. "T-Together."


End file.
